Forgiven
by Criala
Summary: The love of Sasuke's life dies. What will he do without her?


The song is Forgiven by Within Temptation.  
This was written about two years ago.  
I don't own Naruto or Sasuke. I just own Criala Ikuro and the plot.  
Enjoy!

* * *

_Couldn't save you from the start_

"Face it Sasuke!" a blond ninja yelled. "You couldn't have saved her! None of us could have! And she made the choice to die... For us..." He whispered the last part so quiety that Sasuke probably didn't hear him.  
Onxy eyes glared at the blond ninja. He glanced at her dead body before going back to glaring at the blond haired blue eyed ninja that stood in front of him. "You don't know that!" "Yes! I do!" Naruto said.  
"What do you know, Naruto?" Sasuke yelled back. "You don't know anything!"  
"Naruto is right for once, Sasuke-kun!" A pink haired kunoichi said, stepping in before a fight broke out between the two.  
Her cheeks tear stained.  
"Sakura-chan..." Naruto said.  
"There was nothing that you could have done!" Sakura said. A sigh escaped his lips, though he didn't say a word.  
"Sasuke... She would have died whether you guys had come or not..." Kakashi said as he appeared on the scene.  
"...Shut up... You don't know that..." Sasuke said quietly, his eyes not leaving her body. The other three sighed, They knew that they wouldn't be able to get through to him.

_Love you so it hurts my soul_

It was the day of her funeral... He just couldn't let her go.  
Though he might not admit it, He loved her more than life.  
"Aren't you coming Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.  
Sasuke just shook his head, looking off into the distance.  
"Alright..." Sakura said as she and Naruto headed off to the funeral.  
"I'm worried about Sasuke-kun, Naruto." She said. "He hasn't been the same since she died." Naruto nodded, Not his usual hyperactive self. "Yeah, I know, I've noticed." Naruto said glumly.  
"It saddens me that there's nothing we can do to help him." Sakura said, frowning greatly.  
Naruto just nodding, showing that he agreed.  
They continued on their way to her funeral.

_Can you forgive me for trying again?_

"Sasuke-kun! You need to eat something!" Sakura said to Sasuke.  
He had barely eaten at all the past few weeks. He also hadn't really slept either.  
"..." Was their, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi's, reply.  
He had also stopped talking. The most he would say was hn.  
Sakura sighed, They weren't getting any where.  
No matter what they did, He wouldn't eat.  
"Uggghhh! You are going to eat even if I have to shove it down your fricking throat!" Naruto yelled.  
"Naruto!" Sakura said, hitting him over the head.  
"Sakura-chan....." Naruto whined as he rubbed his head. Even at the age of fifteen, Naruto still couldn't take a whack from Sakura.  
"Please eat Sasuke-kun." Sakura pleaded.  
Sasuke just turned away from the three and walked out of the room.  
Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura all sighed as they walked him walk away.

_Your silence makes me hold my breath_

Sasuke glanced around his empty house and sighed.  
Before this had happened, he would have liked the silence.  
But not anymore....Now he hated it more than anything, Maybe even more than Itachi.  
It haunted him every day. Every single second of every day...It constantly reminded him that she was gone forever...And that she wasn't going to ever come back...

_Time has passed you by_

Sasuke took a look at a calender and then looked at the ground.  
It had already been four months since she died. Four long months. He sighed, He knew he'd have to get over it sometime and go to her grave.  
The other three months, He just couldn't handle going to her grave.  
He finally decided that he would go to her grave today.  
The question was, Could he handle it?  
The answer to that question, was something that he would not know until he got there.

_Oh, for so long, I've tried to shield you from the world_

He remembered how he had tried to sheild her from the rest of the world when they were younger and before she had died, so that something like that wouldn't happen.  
So she wouldn't have been put in that kind of situation.  
He had failed though.  
But she had made the choice to die though...  
For them...

_Oh, you couldn't face the freedom on your own_

~"Oh lighten up Sasuke!" A girl about fifteen said.  
She had black hair and blue eyes. "Your back in Konoha! You even have freedom to roam the village as you please!" "Hn." Sasuke said. She sighed. "Don't you ever say anything else besides 'hn'?"  
"Hn..." Sasuke hn'd, Just to annoy her and she knew what he was doing.~

_Here I am Left in silence_

'Come on Sasuke!' He could still hear her voice calling out to him.  
It always used to annoy him, how she'd called out to him.  
But now....All he could hear was silence and he found himself missing the sound of her voice.

_You gave up the fight_

~"Surrender girl! Give your life up!" The evil guy said.  
"Never!" She yelled.  
"Do it! Or I'll kill your beloved boyfriend and your friends!" He shouted, pointing to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were who tied up and gagged with charka sucking ropes.  
But they were actually fakes so that she would give up her life.  
She gasped. "You can't! You wouldn't!" "Oh, I can, would and will!" He said, laughing evilly.  
"F-Fine...I give my life for theirs!" She said as she dropped her weapons. "I surrender!"~

_You left me behind_

~"No!" Sasuke yelled as he, Naruto and Sakura came to the scene just as the evil guy was ready to deliver the final blow. "S-Sasuke..." She whispered, quietly. "I thought that..." She was severely injured by now. Only one more blow and she would be almost dead, depending on where he got her. She would either die or end up bleeding to death.  
"Noooo!" Sasuke yelled as the evil guy stabbed a kunai straight through her heart.  
He pulled the kunai out. Sasuke did not look happy.  
To say that least, he looked completely ticked off. "You will pay for this..." Sasuke whispered in a deathly calm voice.~

_All that's done's forgiven_

~Sasuke knelt down to her and took her into his arms. "S-Sasuke..." She whispered, close to death.  
"Yes?" He said.  
"I... Know... That... I don't... Have... Much... Longer..." She said, coughing as she did so.  
"Don't say that... Kakashi is on his way with medical nin." He said. "It's already too late for me..." She said quietly, coughing up blood.  
"No...You'll make it..." He said to her.  
"No, I won't..." She said. "Before I go...I wanted you to know that...I love you...."  
With that said, She took her last breath and went limp in his arms.~

_I know deep inside  
__All that's done's forgiven_

~He couldn't believe it....She was actually gone...Forever.  
Sasuke carefully set her body down and slowly stood up.  
He looked up at the evil guy....No, The murderer, And glared hatefully at him.  
"You..." He said, his words laced with vemon and hate. "Will pay..."  
That evil murderer actually looked scared.  
Before he was acting like he was all high and mighty.  
Now he was like a scared little kitten.  
Sasuke advanced towards that man, Sharingan out.  
He also had his sword pulled out. "Your dead..."~

_I watched the clouds drifting away  
__Still the sun can't warm my face_

Sasuke sighed as he sat on a hill top, watching the clouds, remembering what had happened.  
He had actually left his house.  
He was leaning back upon his hands.  
He was pretty pale, more pale than normal, since he hardly ever left his house.  
He just ignored the squeals and stares from his fangirls.  
They thought that they could replace her.  
Oh, How wrong they were.  
No one could ever hope replace her.

_I know it was destined to go wrong_

It was her birthday today...It would have been her 16th birthday.  
It was almost as bad as the anniversary of her death...They would have been celebrating her life...If she had alive still that is.  
From the moment she had left the village to go after that evil murderer of a man, He had this feeling that it wasn't end well.  
He hated the fact that the feeling he had had came true.

_You were looking for the great escape  
__To chase your demons away_

"You have to come out of this house more than once Sasuke!" Naruto said. "...."  
"God, Sasuke! Your not the ONLY one who was effected by her death!" Naruto yelled.  
"....Hn."  
"Fine, Sasuke! Rot away in your house for all I care!" Naruto said. Naruto turned from Sasuke and stormed out.  
Sasuke didn't make a move to go after him.  
He began to think.  
It was true...He wasn't the only one effected by her death.  
But he probably took worst than anyone else did.  
No...He did take the worst.  
No one else had locked themsevles in their houses.  
No one else had stopped eating or sleeping.  
No one else had practically stopped talking.  
No one else had wished that they had gone with her.

_Oh, for so long, I've tried to shield you from the world_

"He won't come out Sakura-chan, no matter what. I haven't gone in there since the last time I tried to get him out. I'm not gonna try again." Naruto said. "But! Narut-" "No! But nothing! I'm sorry Sakura-chan but he won't come out. He's shielding himself from the world for a reason! He's not going to come out!" Naruto had cut her off. "The one person that could get him out of that house is dead!" Sakura sniffled and sighed sadly, looking at the ground.  
She knew that what Naruto said was true.  
The one person that could have gotten him out of that house... Was basically the reason he had isolated himself. The reason that he had pretty much stopped living...

_Oh, you couldn't face the freedom on your own_

"Sasuke....Your going to have to come out sooner or later." Kakashi said, leaning against the wall.  
"...." The sixteen year old black haired ninja only gave silence as a reply to his sensei.  
His onxy eyes were now basically lifeless. He was much skinnier than he used to be.  
Dark bags under his eyes from never sleeping.

_Here I am Left in silence_

Kakashi sighed. "Suit yourself, Sasuke." With that said, Kakashi disappeared, leaving Sasuke alone in silence.  
"Well, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as him.  
"He's not coming out." Kakashi said.  
Sakura sighed.  
"You should have known what the result would be, Sakura." Kakashi said.  
Sakura nodded. "I know, Kakashi-sensei. But I thought, No I hoped, That he'd listen to you."  
Kakashi nodded understandingly. "He's not going to listen to anyone."  
"I realize that Sensei." Sakura said sadly. "It was just fasle hope. I guess we should just give up."

_You gave up the fight_

"He's still in there?" Tsunade asked.  
Sakura and Naruto nodded gravely.  
"It's been eight months." Tsunade said in disbelief. "I can't believe he's had himself locked up for that long." "We've tried to get him out countless times." Sakura said. "But..."  
"But he's just too stubborn!" Naruto said, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.  
He clenched his fists so hard, that his fingernails dug into his skin and started to bleed.  
"Calm down Naruto..." Sakura said.  
Naruto took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. "I'm fine..."  
"Well, I don't think that there's anything I can do." Tsunade said. "It's seems he's not going to come out until he's ready."  
"How long until he's ready?" Sakura asked. "He may never be ready." Tsunade said.  
Sakura sighed. "I feared that..." She whispered.

_You left me behind_

Sasuke sat on his couch, staring at the wall.  
He glanced at the kunai that was laying on the living room table.  
The metal shining in the light.  
It would be so easy....  
To Just.... Let it all go...  
She had just left him behind...  
Life wasn't worth living without her around...  
His eyes stayed on the sharp metal.  
Slowly, he reached for it.  
He almost had his hand on it when...  
Sakura walked in. "Hello Sasuke-kun..." She said, not as chipper as usual.  
He had quickly withdrew his hand from the kunai when she had walked in.  
His lifeless, empty eyes glanced at her, Before he went back to staring at the wall.  
"Are you going to be ready to leave your house soon?" She asked.  
"..." She sighed. She should have known...Yet she still came once a day...  
"Well...If your not ready then, I guess I'll just go..." She said. "Bye Sasuke-kun. See you tomorrow..."  
Sakura turned around and walked out.

_All that's done's forgiven_

Sakura sighed as she walked down the street from Sasuke's house.  
She was headed toward Kakashi and Naruto.  
"So...How is he?" Kakashi asked.  
"He's not doing any better..." Sakura said sadly.  
"There was no point in going Sakura-chan..." Naruto said. "He's not going to get any better."  
"What do you know Naruto... Things get worst before they get better." She said, seeming to be in denial.  
Naruto sighed. "Yeah... But sometimes..." He looked at the ground. "Things just get worst." "I know... I know Naruto..." She whispered.  
Kakashi just watched them, sighing.  
It was obvious that there was nothing they could do for Sasuke.  
That anyone could do for him.  
He just seemed to get worst and worst.  
The sad thing is... He would probably never be himself again.  
Not without her around.

_You'll always be mine_

She had been Sasuke's whole life.  
He loved her so much.  
He thought she'd always be his.  
Only the only one who knew how Sasuke felt about her, besides her, was Kakashi.  
He wouldn't have told anyone else.  
He had told her that he loved her. He was so happy that she felt the same.  
Now... His life was an empty shell of nothing.

_I know deep inside  
__All that's done's forgiven_

Once again, Sasuke found himself staring at the kunai that just lay there on his table through his empty eyes.  
It was so tempting...  
It was right there, like it was waiting for him to pick it up.  
The sharp metal was shining in the light as it had before.  
He blinked once, Never taking his eyes off it.  
If he did this... All the pain would be gone...  
No more of this feeling empty and lifeless...  
No more of... Anything...  
Finally, He looked away from the blade and at the wall.  
He couldn't think of suicide... Not yet anyway...

_I've been so lost since you've gone_

More and more often, Sasuke found himself staring at the kunai.  
He had been so lost since she'd gone.  
It became more and more appealing to him as the days went by...  
Even though he knew that she wouldn't have wanted him to.  
That was the only reason he was pushing away the temptation to...  
Because she wouldn't have wanted him to.  
But if he did... They could be together again...  
He sighed... Pushing the temptation away once again.  
He didn't know how much longer he could ignore and push it away.  
Sooner or later it would consume him...

_Why not me before you?_

Sasuke also often found himself wondering why he hadn't gone before her.  
Maybe it would have been better if he had died before she did.  
Wait... No...  
Then she might be the one with thoughts of suicide...  
He sighed.  
She would have been the one going through what he was going through.  
All the feelings... All the feeling so empty...  
All the thoughts of suicide...  
He shook his head, the temptation once again in his head.  
It was really hard to push, the kunai was in his range of sight.  
He just did his hardest to push it away...  
But... His hardest... Just might not be hard enough this time.

_Why did fate deceive me?_

Slowly, The broken Sasuke Uchiha reached for the kunai.  
His hand tightly grasped the handle of it.  
He watched the light reflect off the blade.  
A couple tears rolled down his cheek... Slowly In his mind... In the twisted state that his mind was in right now... This was the right thing to do...  
No more pain...  
No more emptiness...  
Slowly he reached the blade upto his neck...  
No more anything...  
He had lost his will to live...  
He was pretty much dead inside because she had died...  
He was just taking his body where his soul had gone...  
He took a one last deep breath and took the plunge...  
Everything would be better now...

_Everything turned out so wrong_

"Another day of failing to get him out of his house..." Sakura sighed.  
"I don't see why you still try, Sakura-chan." Naruto said.  
Sakura had managed to get Naruto to come with her this time.  
"Well, Sometimes you never know... He might come out any day now." She said, trying her best to smile.  
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. He MIGHT."  
"Naruto..." Sakura said.  
"Sorry..." He muttered.  
They walked upto Sasuke's door.  
Sakura knocked. "Hi, Sasuke-kun! I'm here!" She called out before she opened the door.  
"Sasuke-kun...?" She asked as she walked inside.  
She looked around and her emerald green eyes stopped on one spot in the room.  
She gasped lightly. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed.  
Pretty much all of Konoha heard her screaming.

_Why did you leave me in silence?_

"Sakura-chan! What's wrong?" Naruto asked, running inside.  
He gasped at what he saw before him.  
Sasuke sitting on the couch... Dead... His throat had been slit...  
"S-Sasuke..." Naruto said, in shock.  
Anyone could tell what happened by just looking at the body.  
The kunai is his hand... Dried blood all over it...  
"Suicide..." Naruto heard Kakashi say from behind him.  
"Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto said as he looked at his sensei.  
"I knew he felt empty..." Kakashi said. "But...I didn't know he felt empty enough to do this..."  
Kakashi sighed and looked at the ground.  
He had never expected this...  
He never thought that Sasuke would commit suicide...  
He thought that the urge to kill his brother would keep him from killing himself.  
But he had never been more wrong in his life...  
Soon, The ANBU Black Ops showed up and took the body away.

_You gave up the fight_

"Why?" Sakura cried. "Why did Sasuke-kun do such a thing?"  
"..." Naruto didn't say a thing.  
"The emptiness that he was feeling... Was too much for him to bare, I guess." Kakashi said. He had actually been on time for Sasuke's funeral.  
Tsunade cleared her throat and began to speak. "No one knows for sure why Sasuke Uchiha would commit suicide. But, We all have a good idea why he did. He was a great and powerful Shinobi, A poweful Uchiha. He shall be greatly missed. He is now in a better placed where he will feel better and where he will be with her for all eternity. He may have been once a traitor, But he was still a leaf shinobi. He will never be forgotten." After Tsunade finished her speech, Everyone put a single flower on his grave.

_You left me behind_

"I still don't understand!" Sakura said, still crying.  
"We probably will never understand, Sakura-chan..." Naruto said, looking down at her sadly.  
"Not even I understand it." Kakashi said. "Tsunade does not understand it either."  
"No one does..." Naruto murmured. "It's not the same without him around..."  
Kakashi nodded. "No it's not. It's not the same without either of them around." Sasuke had been buried next to her, side by side their graves were.  
Sakura was breaking down as Naruto tried his best to console her.  
They were the ones that were left behind...  
"There was nothing that we could do to prevent this... Right?" Naruto asked.  
"I'm afraid not Naruto." Kakashi said. "We might have been able to prolong it some. But... It would have happened eventually." Naruto nodded. "Thought so..." He said as he turned his eyes back to Sasuke's grave.

_All that's done's forgiven_

The village wasn't the same without Sasuke and her.  
People visited their graves often.  
There were tons of flowers on each one.  
A tear slid down Sakura's cheek as she and Naruto went to visit the graves.  
She placed some flowers on each one.  
"Why? Why did you have to kill yourself, Sasuke-kun?" She cried.  
She had not been taking it that well.  
"Sakura-chan... There is one good thing about this..." Naruto said.  
"What good thing?" She asked.  
"He's in a better place now..." He said.  
Sakura nodded and looked at Sasuke's grave again.

**'Sasuke Uchiha... A great shinobi... The leaf village will be lost without him.'**

_You'll always be mine_

"Y-Your right, Naruto..." Sakura said. "Your absolutely right."  
"He's doing a whole lot better where he is now, Than he was when he was here with us." Naruto said, looking up at the sky.  
"Yes." She said as she nodded. Then she looked at her grave.

**'Criala Ikuro... An honorable shinobi... She gave her life up without a second though to save her teammates'**

_I know deep inside  
__All that's done's forgiven_

"Let's go Sakura-chan." Naruto said softly.  
Sakura nodded as she stood up. "Right. Let's go." They both turned around and began walked away.  
Sakura turned her head back and looked at the graves once more.  
She almost cried.  
She willed herself not to cry.  
They were in a better place now...  
It didn't matter how they get there...  
Whether they died for their teammates...  
Or they commited suicide...  
All that matter was that now they were in a better place.  
She turned her head to watch in front of her.  
As they walked away, Tears slowly began to pour down her cheeks.  
No more how many tears poured, She did not stop walking or breakdown.  
She was going to be strong... For Sasuke and Criala...  
No matter how much it hurt...  
No matter how much she wanted to give up...  
She wouldn't...  
"Hey, Are you ok, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.  
"Yeah, Naruto, I'm fine." Sakura said.  
She would stay strong...  
Just for them...


End file.
